Series 2 Dtivo Upgrade

[captainmorgank]

After doing much reading I am confused on what I can and cannot do to my series 2 Dtivo. Here is what I would like to do:

I have two series 2 Dtivo's. One is running 6.2 software unhacked with the stock 80GB. The other in running 3.1.1 and upgraded to 160GB and hacked last year (using one of the upgrade scripts but I don't remember which one).

I want to learn more about this hobby this time around. I want to do the upgrades manually and learn what the commands are doing. I have received a lot of great explanations on some of the commands from other members already.

What I am looking to do is:
1. Upgrade to 250GB drive.
2. Network.
3. Transfer file to and from tivo's and computer.

I have found a bunch of the commands by searching the forum but now I need to learn more about what each is doing.

I am also a little over whelmed with all the information that I have been absorbing.


Questions:
Which kernel should I use?
Do I need an image file or can I use what is on each of the units?
The first time I upgraded I think I had read that the largest capacity was 137GB. Now I read somewhere that with the new software versions you can go much larger. Is this true or is 250GB not attainable?

Thank You,

[cheer]

Excellent questions all.

I can't help you much with the HD upgrade as I've never done one. But I am told the Hindsdale How-To is the way to go -- search on it.

As for the rest:

For 6.2 you need a killhdinitrd'd 3.1.5 kernel
No, you don't need an image; you can use what's there
250gb is perfectly doable, particularly with 6.2 which has an lba48-aware kernel


If you want to understand what the commands are doing, a good place to start (or so I am told -- don't want to toot my own horn) is a roadmap (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43599) I put together. Once you've perused the threads linked therein, feel free to fire off as many questions as you like.

[PlainBill]

A couple of points

1. In general, a drive can only be expanded once. The system with the stock drive can be easily expanded to a 350 Gig drive; the system at 3.1.1x and a 160 gig drive cannot be expanded.

2. 3.1.1x could only support up to 137 gigs without a custom kernel; 6.2 will support 250 Gig.

3. Figure out how you hacked the system at 3.1.1x, upgrade it to 6.2, hack it, then apply Superpatch_67. Take the system currently at 6.2, expand to the 250 Gig drive, hack, etc.

As Cheer indicated, everything you want to do is possible.

PlainBill

[captainmorgank]

1. In general, a drive can only be expanded once. The system with the stock drive can be easily expanded to a 350 Gig drive; the system at 3.1.1x and a 160 gig drive cannot be expanded.
How would I upgrade to 6.2?
Is there away to force the upgrade ( I have read that people are forcing a call or upgrade but do not find anything on how this is done)?
Could I put my original drive in, have it take the software upgrade to 6.2 and then expand it to a lager drive and hack it?

I have seen the different versions, such as 3.1.1 and 6.2, referred to as kernel and software. Are these the same thing or is the software something different then the kernel?

[PlainBill]

How would I upgrade to 6.2?
Is there away to force the upgrade ( I have read that people are forcing a call or upgrade but do not find anything on how this is done)?
There are several ways to upgrade to 6.2. DirecTiVos get the updated software from the satellite. On a hacked system it is easy to edit the upgrade software, run it, then rehack before rebooting. If it hasn't received the new software from the satellite, it can be loaded using slices. The simplest way is to let it call TiVo and get the upgrade that way.
It really depends on your recordings - if you want to preserve them, your options are slightly limited.

Could I put my original drive in, have it take the software upgrade to 6.2 and then expand it to a lager drive and hack it?You can, but you would lose any recordings you have. Or you could restore an image to the drive. Again, recordings will be lost.

I have seen the different versions, such as 3.1.1 and 6.2, referred to as kernel and software. Are these the same thing or is the software something different then the kernel?
This IS confusing, and I'm as guilty as anyone. The kernel is part of the software - someone refered to it as the engine. I guess that means the rest of the software is the wheels, body, seats, and roof. I'm not sure about the fuzzy dice.

Strictly speaking, the kernel should be refered to by it's series. 3.1.1x uses the 2.4.4 series kernel, 4.0.1x uses the 2.4.18 kernel, while 3.1.5, 6.x, and 7.x use the 2.4.20 kernel. Within a series, kernels are distinguished by a build number (assigned as the kernel is compiled). We tend to use a shorthand - as in the 3.1.5 kernel is actually Linux version 2.4.20 (build@buildmaster5) (gcc version 3.0) #22 Fri Feb 20 18:19:25 PST 2004 Most kernels are similar - the kernels for 3.1.5, 3.1.5d, 3.1.5e, and 6.2 are identical except for some security features. This is important because the 3.1.5 kernel can be compromised by killhdinitrd, the others can't.

PlainBill

[cheer]

How would I upgrade to 6.2?
Is there away to force the upgrade ( I have read that people are forcing a call or upgrade but do not find anything on how this is done)?
Could I put my original drive in, have it take the software upgrade to 6.2 and then expand it to a lager drive and hack it?
Everyone's got an opinion about the best way to do this. My personal preference is to do it via slices, because then (A) I can control it, (B) I can re-hack after 6.2 is installed but before it loads, (C) I lose no recordings, and (D) my DTivo is never unhacked for even an instant. :)

I used this process (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?p=224522) to do it.
I have seen the different versions, such as 3.1.1 and 6.2, referred to as kernel and software. Are these the same thing or is the software something different then the kernel?
Well this is a shorthand, really...and it's confusing because of the actual linux kernel version, etc.

When one of us says "use a 3.1.5 kernel," what we really mean is "use a kernel that came with the 3.1.5 software." A 3.1.1c kernel came from the 3.1.1c software. And so on.

In reality, the kernel numbers are different; 3.1.1x all used a 2.4.4 kernel and 3.1.5x, 6.x, and 7.x (so far) all use a 2.4.20 kernel. However, with each Tivo software release, minor changes were made to the kernels. Nothing functional, but only certain specific versions can be modified with killhdinitrd. This is why we say to use a 3.1.1c kernel with, say, 3.1.1e software, or a 3.1.5 kernel with, say, 3.1.5f or 6.2 software.

[captainmorgank]

When I do bootpage -p /dev/hdc this is what I get:

root=/dev/hda4 dsscon=true console=2,115200 BASH_ENV='mount$IFS-n$IFS/dev/hda16$IFS/mnt;echo$IFS/mnt/runmonte'

Can anyone tell me what this means?
I changed the name on one of the directory's while in a telnet session over the network. I rebooted and now I do not have network connection.

Can I gain access through the serial port by doing the follwoing:

bootpage -P "root=/dev/hda4 dsscon=true console=2,115200" -C /dev/hdc

I am trying to get back into the file system so I can reverse my screw-up.

I was hoping to fix this problem. I want to try and unsleeper the unit so I can try learning some of the new upgrades and try to apply them without having to start over and lose my recordings.

Thanks

[captainmorgank]

Well I was able to pull the drive from the tivo and put into the computer. I was able to mount hdc7 and find the directory that I renamed and change it back. I am still not able to connect to the network. Renaming the directory was the only think that I did before I lost network connectivity.

Do I need to copy the changes that I made to a different location before they will take effect?

[PlainBill]

(Sigh). I'd like to help you, but my crystal ball is at the cleaners. This (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?p=234467#post234467) post will tell you how to give us more information.

What directory did you rename? Unless you renamed the /lib/modules directory or the "hack" directory, that would not cause the problem you describe.

The bootpage you listed in the previous post indicates the drive was hacked using the Monte method. I suspect you used TiVoScripts (aka Sleeper's iso). The monte must be removed before you can proceed. Instructions are here. (http://dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?p=196162&postcount=3)

PlainBill

[captainmorgank]

Thanks PlainBill,
The bootpage you listed in the previous post indicates the drive was hacked using the Monte method. I suspect you used TiVoScripts (aka Sleeper's iso). The monte must be removed before you can proceed. Instructions are here.

I was just reading how to unmonte and I seen that you post to my thread but I was not sure if this was what I needed to do first. I am going to give this a try.

What directory did you rename? Unless you renamed the /lib/modules directory or the "hack" directory, that would not cause the problem you describe.
I don't remember the exact path but I renamed the webtivo-tcl directory(I think the path was /usr/var. If this is not what caused my issue, I don't know what would have caused it.

The bootpage you listed in the previous post indicates the drive was hacked using the Monte method. I suspect you used TiVoScripts (aka Sleeper's iso). The monte must be removed before you can proceed. Instructions are here.
I was thinking that this was the case but I was not sure. I have been wanting to unsleeper this unit any way.


Thanks again.

[captainmorgank]

I wanted to capture a serial console output before I unmonte'd my system to see if someone could see what happened 5272 . I also wanted to see what it looked like and try to figure it out for my self. I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I am going to unmonte the system tomorrow.

The problem was that I had network connectivity until I renamed the webtivo-tcl directory and rebooted(atleast that's all I thought I did). I also do not get a serial bash.

Thanks

[Wolffpack]

I wanted to capture a serial console output before I unmonte'd my system to see if someone could see what happened 5272 . I also wanted to see what it looked like and try to figure it out for my self. I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I am going to unmonte the system tomorrow.

The problem was that I had network connectivity until I renamed the webtivo-tcl directory and rebooted(atleast that's all I thought I did). I also do not get a serial bash.

ThanksWhat command did you use to "rename" the directory? "mv"? If so, from what directory did you run the command and what exactly was the command. If you "mv"ed a directory that's one thing. If you "mv"ed a symbolic link that's very different and would need to be reversed in a different manner.

[captainmorgank]

mv webtivo-tcl webtivo-tcl.old. It was either in /var/hacks or /var.

Thanks

[PlainBill]

I see no signs of /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author running. Did you make any changes to it or rename it?

Note that since you have a monte'd system, the true root partition is /dev/hda7.

PlainBill

[captainmorgank]

I see no signs of /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author running. Did you make any changes to it or rename it?

Note that since you have a monte'd system, the true root partition is /dev/hda7.

PlainBill
Well, I was able to get it back on the network and get a bash prompt.

I see no signs of /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author running.
This was the clue that I needed. I did not make any changes to this file to cause the problem. I did find that there was a file called rc.sysinit.author in /etc/rc.d that had an if statement that pointed to a file called rc.sysinit.author.edit in /var/hacks. The hacks directory was missing(I read that you should not use the /var directory for hacks http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?p=237757&highlight=%22rc.sysinit.author%22#post237757 ). There was also a file in the /etc/rc.d directory called rc.sysinit.author~. This was a backup of the rc.sysinit.author file so I did a mv rc.sysinit.author rc.sysinit.author.old and then mv rc.sysinit.author~ rc.sysinit.author. I then did chmod 755 rc.sysint.author. I put the drive back into the tivo box, powered it up and now I am back to where I was.

Now I can get a test drive and continue.

I still need to:
copy an image from the current drive
apply the image to the test drive
unsleeper
upgrade the kernel
rehack

DTivo system:
Model:RCA DVR40
software version: 3.1.1c

Questions:
1. Will any of the above cause me to lose my recordings?
2. Are the above tasks in the correct order.
3. I have the PTVupgrade CD with killhdinitrd'd kernel's. Which kernel should I use (3.1.1.c, 3.1.5 or 4.0.1a)?

I want to thank everyone for the help. I have learned so much in the past couple of weeks and would like to especially thank PlainBill, eastwind and cheer for that. They have been most helpful and patient with all my questions.

Thanks again

[PlainBill]

It should be possible to do the upgrade without losing your recordings.

PlainBill